The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c11.s1.34

c11.s1.34

Here, we believe, ends, both on the monument and in the text, the story of Sudhana-kumâra and the Kinnari Manoharâ, or, as we may translate it, of Prince Fortunate and the fairy Charming. The ten panels which continue the line as far as the southern staircase seem to be devoted to another story, in which the exchange by sea and land of portraits, or models, of the hero or heroine (¹) plays a role sufficiently picturesque to suggest sooner or later an identification. For the present we prefer to abstain from all hypothesis. The example of the first twenty of these bas-reliefs proves clearly that it would be idle to attempt, without the aid of a text, an explanation founded solely on the intimations of the sculptors. Even a text is not always sufficient : it must also be well chosen. We have just remarked that our image-makers have, except for a few insignificant divergences, followed the letter of the Divyâvadâna. We should arrive at a quite different result, if we compared with their work another version of the same legend, preserved in the no less ancient and authentic collection of the Mahâvastu (²). There we have no more question of a preamble, containing the adventures of the *nâga* Janmacitraka and of the snake-charmer : also it is not with an infallible lasso, but thanks to a « truthful word », that the hunter gets possession of the *Kinnarî*. There is no longer any wicked chaplain, any expedition of the prince against a rebel, any bad dream of the king : it simply happens that Sudhana, having in the excess of his love neglected his duties, is put into prison by his father, and the fairy is sent home, but not by way of the air. Then it is with two hunters, and not with an anchorite, that Manoharâ leaves her ring and her directions to her lover. It is a huge monkey who transports the prince and his three companions to the town of the *Kinnarî*, where the best welcome awaits him, without having to undergo any trial of strength or skill. In short, if we had at our disposal only the *Mahâvastu*, scarcely two or three out of twenty bas-reliefs, for example the capture of the *Kinnarî* by the hunter and the throwing of the ring into the pitcher, would be susceptible of a detailed interpretation by the aid of the text : and yet it is quite evident to us, thanks to the constant accord between the *Divyâvadâna* and the sculptures, that the identification with the legend of Prince Sudhana would be on the whole none the less just. This remark deserves to be borne in mind throughout the delicate enterprise of the explanation of these mute stories.